Taking Control
by Smokahonta5
Summary: A story of a young man taking life by the horns, rated initially T but might develop into an M rating later, we'll see. Definitly H/Hr and will be frilly at some parts, be prepared for some pretty violent fight scenes and some decent comedy. I also like to end chapters in semi-cliffhangers... anyway, enjoy! Unbeta'd permanently. Don't ask.
1. Chapter 1

"You've got to _mean _it Potter, like this! _CRUCIO!"_

Pain, unthinkable pain, and then it was gone. Bellatrix had vanished, Harry was alone in the foyer of the Ministry. He felt a tingling in his scar then a searing burn.

"Hello Harry." Tom said almost softly. "Ready to die?"

Harry looked defiantly at him, his eyes narrowed. His grip tightened on his wand and he swept upward beginning to cast his infamous overpowered stunner, seemingly under-kill to defeat the most powerful Dark Lord in half a century but it was what he knew, and in a moment when reflexes mattered more than anything what he knew was his best bet.

Tom didn't even move, he didn't even block he opened his hideous mouth and swallowed the glowing red orb then bellowed out before returning with what looked like a pure orb of energy, sickening green energy in a semi opaque orb originating from his body outward. There was no dodging this, no reflecting or defending. Harry braced himself, but the Reaper never came for him, the energy had seemingly dissipated before it reached him. The Dark Lord looked at him, his eyes had a slight shimmer to them, almost a glow. Harry felt more energy than ever before burn into him, he returned the glare, for once without fear, without doubt of the outcome, he would win this war. There was no if. There was no try. "There will be no painless death for the last of the Potters!" Voldemort lifted his wand and opened his mouth in a seemingly silent scream but what escaped was an inhuman screech followed by a burst of flame that shaped into the head of a Basilisk. FiendFyre. Harry centered himself, the head of the snake flew at him faster than he thought possible but then suddenly slowed greatly as did everything else other than the speed of Harry's thoughts, he knew he couldn't block, couldn't dodge so he decided to do what he did best. Face his doom head on. He dug in dropped his wand and outstretched his arms palms toward the fire, a ghostly wall appeared before him, the basilisk slammed into the wall and then spread, looking for a breech in his defenses, creeping around the edges of his ward and closer to Harry, then something broke, there was a shock-wave of energy that burst outward and suddenly the FiendFyre sped back at its castor as fast as it had toward Harry only pure white, it was no longer a flame but rather a pure wave of energy it tore through the air screaming back at the Dark Lord who flicked downward with his bone white wand and opened what looked to be a tear in thin air, the energy burned closer seemingly devouring everything in its path and growing larger with each foot it traveled, only to be swallowed by the tear which closed soon after. Tom simply looked at Harry curiously then disappeared in a black cloud as Fudge and Dumbledore thundered into the room.

"He's... he's really..." Harry heard Fudge as an echo then lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

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Harry woke in the hospital wing, Hermione standing over him seemingly healed from Dolohov's curse. When his eyes opened she teared up a bit and stroked his forehead as if to remove the hair from it.

"Harry, oh thank God you're okay!" She said choking back sobs of happiness.

"'Mione." was all he managed in response before coughing a bit and closing his eyes, not unconscious but still quite sore from the Pain curse Voldemort cast on him.

"Shh, its okay." She cooed before she kissed his forehead and stepped back allowing Pomfrey to tend to him.

A few hours went by as she tested him for any lasting damage then after taking something for the lasting pain she released him from care. Hermione pulled his arm up over her shoulder and helped him walk from the hospital wing headed for the stairs at first but then into a corridor off to the side and into an empty classroom. She sat him down and then sat next to him. Harry looked at her questioningly but she silenced him with a small smile and a supportive touch of the hand. Soon Dumbledore swept into the room followed by... Sirius? Harry, his soreness forgotten stood and bolted to his dogfather literally tackling him to the ground in his relief. Sirius just laughed at him and hugged him back through the few moments of silent tears. When they stood Harry had dried the tears and turned to his Headmaster and quasi-mentor with a pleading look in his eyes.

"I will explain in due time my boy, but first I'd like to talk with you about your scar. I'm afraid I haven't been honest with you..."

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Okay Ladies and Gents, this is tentitive, I had a bit of a plot bunny and I figured I'd start it up with a little teaser and see how the community reacted to it, if i get a positive response I'll continue. This is going to be a Harmony/Soulbond fic, No dumbles or weasley bashing. Also Powerful!Harry... as you can probably tell haha well be honest be brutally honest I can take it, let me know what you think, Thanks :D  
-Smoke


	2. Motivation

Author's Note: The preview wasn't the beginning of this story, I used it as the hook because its a breaking point in the story, the internal conflict comes to a head so our hero can move on to the external one. The first 5-10 chapters will bring us up to the moment in the story depicted in the preview, hope you're not all mad, don't worry there'll still be tons of action I just wanna develop our characters _correctly_ rather than pushing them on with JKR's horrible depictions of them. That all being said heres Chapter Two: Motivation (Fun Fact: it took me 8 tries to hit the colon key rather than a capital 'L' it was terribly infuriating)

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Harry stepped of the train after being thanked _again_ by the Weasley Twins for his investment. He still couldn't see why they were surprised, he couldn't think of a more promising investment of his Triwizard winnings. Hermione stepped off behind him. Together, after greeting the Weasley matriarch and saying their goodbye's to their friends, they walked out through the portal and back to King's Cross. Hermione's parents we're there already waiting for her, after some words and Hermione's customary overenthusiastic goodbye along with profuse promises to write over summer Harry rolled onward, thinking to find his "family" out in the drive-in pickup lanes. When he didn't see them, at first Harry thought nothing of it, soon an hour passed, then two. Harry then started to see something wrong with this situation. Soon a searing pain in his forehead caused him to draw his wand and let Hedwig out of her cage, telling her to "Get Dumbledore, _quickly _girl." quietly and calmly. Forcing himself into what he would later recognize as a primitive form of occlumency. Suddenly there was a small pop behind him, he whipped around as quick as he could and cast a stunner at the robed man who appeared, faster than the eye could see though the man flicked his wand and the stunner dissipated into a tiny red cloud before disappearing altogether. Harry then recognized Dumbledore and stepped toward him. Dumbledore wordlessly reached out to him and held his shoulder then apparated to a dingy front room.

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They sat together and Harry filled him in while the Headmaster pondered the facts. After a few moments of silence Dumbledore looked up, the twinkle in his eyes entirely gone. "My boy, please wait here for me and for God's sake don't touch anything, this home has recently been repossessed by the light but before that, the house was home to a family of Dark wizards." With that he swept from the room, almost running and apparated once he left the front door.

"There must have been anti-apparation wards." Harry thought to himself before reentering the drawing room seeing the Headmaster there waiting for him.

Nervously, Harry took his seat across from him in a spongy armchair. "What is it professor?"

"Well Mr. Potter, it seems your Aunt and Uncle have decided that they won't have you back this summer. When I tried to persuade them otherwise I discovered a few things. Let me start by apologizing profusely to you. My attention was stretched across too many commitments and therefore I have let the most important things slip through the cracks, namely you. I again must apologize, I had no idea the extent of the treatment you received at the Dursley's. I knew you we're unhappy with your predicament, but... Harry when I saw that cupboard... Please forgive me." -Enter-

Harry sat back in his chair. Letting the Headmaster's speech sink in. "Professor, I forgive you. I understand what you've told me... I believe that you didn't know the extent of what i had to endure in the care of _my family,_ but your negligence stops now. I won't forgive this twice. That being said, I've had about enough of you treating me like a little boy as well. Voldemort is back, and for some reason he's chosen me to kill. You and I both know he won't rest 'til the one person who has defied him is dead. I need to be ready!" Harry was standing now, his voice rising, not in anger but in determination. "He won't take another family from me, The Weasleys , Hermione, Sirius, Remus! I WON'T LET HIM TAKE ANYONE ELSE FROM ME!" Small trinkets around the room began levitating, the pure power rolling off the boy in waves. Even Dumbledore's rage at the Dursley's treatment of Harry paled in comparison with the sheer force of Harry's oath to himself.

At first Albus moved to deny Harry, to tell him that it wasn't his place to make this personal to try and tell him to live out his childhood while he could, but seeing the look in his eyes, he knew not only would Harry do this with or without his help, but that it was inevitable that he would fail without Albus's intervention. "Harry I'd like to make you my apprentice."

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A few days had passed since the Dursley's had put Harry out, or rather not let him come back. He and Dumbledore had discussed at length where he should stay, Harry was for staying with his dogfather but Dumbledore quickly discounted that, explaining that Sirius was busy preparing something at the moment and ended up placating Harry by explaining that the return of the Order was imminent and that the dingy house they met at before was in fact Grimmauld Place, the new headquarters for the light. Soon after an in depth explanation of the Order and promising Harry that once the house was fit for habitation that he would be allowed to stay with Sirius, he convinced Harry to stay at Hogwarts until that time came. This was very convienent for two reasons. One his training would include many hours of study and being within walking distance of the most expansive magical library in Britain and possibly the Northern Hemisphere was bound to be beneficial. Two, Albus lived at the castle year round, that meant that they could train all day together because of the close proximity.

The first days of Harry actually staying in the castle we're spent discussing a variety of things with Albus but mostly revolved around laying out his course of study over the summer, it focused on Defense, but Dumbledore also expressed that he wanted to focus time on his physical fitness as well.

"There are facets of magic that we will explore in the next year that most wizards and witches couldn't even come near understanding, I have high hopes for you Harry" Dumbledore said sagely.

"I'll do whatever it takes... I can't let him win Professor." He responded softly, almost in a whisper. Dumbledore just nodded.

"Yup, this'll be one hell of a summer." Harry thought to himself.

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"Today, Mr. Potter, we will be exploring magical power."

Harry looked excited at that, finally learning something real, something concrete that would help him in the fight for his life. "I'm ready Professor."

Albus nodded and then pulled out a small instrument, it looked sort of like two hourglasses with a glass tube connecting them about a centimeter from the very bottom of the base orbs. "This will allow us to measure our raw magical power against each other. Avoiding over-modesty I was by far and away the most powerful being I have encountered, including our friend Tom. That being said I believe you will be surprised by the results of this test." he pulled out his wand and touched it to the top of the upper orb nearest to him, Harry mirrored him and magic poured into the instrument, a deep royal blue from Harry's wand and a magnificent gold from Dumbledore's once the upper orb filled the lower ones filled as well and magic poured into the bridge-tube at an equal rate meeting dead center then without missing a beat Harry's blue magic flowed into Dumbledore's gold and completely overtook it. Except for a small 1 inch orb of gold near the tip of Albus's wand all 4 of the tanks were blue.

"Allow me to explain the magnitude of this experiment, the rate and extent to which your magic overpowered mine is comparable to the rate that my own magic would overtake a squib's magic."

Harry's jaw just dropped.

"Furthermore I'd like to state that Voldemort's curse all those years ago on that fateful Halloween evening has cripped you to an _extreme _extent, which is why, even though you seem to be more powerful than your peers, your true potential hasn't shown through."

"How did the curse cripple me sir? I don't understand."

"I don't either at this point Harry, all I know is that the magic is there, its fighting to get out, one day it will, and I need you to be ready for that day, because if you're not, Harry... well... I can honestly say I haven't the slightest inkling how I, or anyone else for that matter, could possibly stop you from completely annihilating everything and everyone around you.

Harry just slowly nodded understanding that he would need to temper himself if he was going to progress the way he needed to in order to defeat Tom.

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Harry sat alone, contemplating what Albus had told him. "_You need to master yourself Harry, you need to search deep within yourself and truly understand what it is you fight for and why._" Harry knew this would be the hardest thing he had ever done, he had a hard enough time expressing himself as it was but to bare himself completely, even only to himself was going to be one hell of an undertaking. "In a way it might be harder to face my own demons and shortcomings myself rather than have them shown to me..." he thought to himself. "Ugh!" he threw himself into the pillows on his bed. Why was he fighting was the easy part, he was fighting for those he loved, so Tom could never hurt them like he hurt Harry. The who would be the difficult part. He knew, deep down what his brain was finally starting to piece together, he just wasn't ready for it. Her. The last thing that crossed his mind before falling asleep from the mental exhaustion was his best friend. Hermione Granger.

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Okay guys, let me know what ya think! :D I think this one pieced together rather well, it moved a little fast but the next chapter will move slower, some more detail. I just wanted to get the plot moving. I can't wait to hear what you guys think of it. Read and Review!


	3. Preparation

Author's Note: Okay guys, here's the next installment. Sorry bout the wait, the last bit... was difficult haha but i feel like i did it justice. let me know what you think, feel free to weigh in on how I could have done anything better or w/e just be respectful. No dickheads. Please and thanks, Read and Review and Enjoy!

Harry woke up feeling sore, his magical core had been stretched to the limit over the last few days, Dumbledore had been drilling him constantly trying to break the barriers holding back his magical power. Anything and everything from forcing his own power through him like a conduit to very extensive magical rituals to build power overall. Nothing had worked. Today the Headmaster wanted to try a more direct approach, he wanted to go into his mind and see what he could find. He was to meet him after going through a basic exercise regimen he and Dumbledore had come up with, running push-ups and sit-ups. They had decided that at some point they needed to bring in outside help, while Dumbledore's knowledge was extensive, there were specialists with greater knowledge in some aspects. They had both acknowledged that but until they figured out what the problem was with Harry's core they weren't comfortable letting anyone else know the level of training Harry was going to undertake, it just wasn't safe. Today though, that was going to change, if they couldn't find the answer rooting around inside Harry's head where else could they find it?

As Harry's run broke to a walk at the end of his 10 mile jog through the castle, Fawkes appeared with two notes tied to his feet one in an envelope, one from the Headmaster, asking him to shower and then meet him in his office. He asked Fawkes to leave the envelope back in Gryffindor tower where he could read it later and cast a quick flame curse on Dumbledore's note before starting his cool off, a jog to the prefect bathroom, where he liked to soak after his exercise and reflect, it had become somewhat of a hobby for him and he hoped he made prefect next year so he could continue it.

Today he decided he needed to reflect on his feelings for his best friend. Just as he settled himself in Fawkes reappeared with a second note from the Headmaster, apologizing and asking him to cut his personal reflection period short and meet him now. Harry groaned and dunked himself under the water, cooling himself off a little more before drying and dressing himself and grabbing Fawkes's feet, he then teleported him to the office, Albus was waiting for him.

"Sorry I rushed you Harry, I know I cut into some very personal time for you, but somethings come up, I need to leave our session early today so I wanted to start early as well." Albus said with a small smile. When Harry nodded his acceptance of the apology he continued. "I do believe you'll be quite happy to hear, though, that I believe I've found the problem." At this Harry's eyes widened.

"What is it professor?!"

"Well my boy I could explain or I could show you."

"Please show me sir."

Dumbledore made eye contact with Harry and then they both were inside Harry's mind amongst the natural defenses Harry had dreamt up. A series of towers and walls that look as though they wouldn't hold up naturally. Dumbledore strolled past the broken down and half ruined turrets and towers into the centre of the display. There seemed to be a black tinge around this place, like an under developed film piece. His mind wasn't quite whole. It was then Dumbledore knew exactly what the problem was, they both pulled back from his mind, Harry looking just as lost as before, Dumbledore grinning like the cat who caught the canary.

"Well my boy my theory was confirmed, as you can see, the centre of your mind isn't whole, there's something missing. I cannot tell you what that is but I can tell you my theory. Before I do that, though, I'd like to tell you the last bit of knowledge I have been holding from you. The reason Voldemort is chasing you, the reason your parents knew to go into hiding years before Voldemort had targeted them, this knowledge is directly related to your current state of mind."

"You see Mr. Potter," Dumbledore started, then began to explain all of the prophecy to him and all the things that it implied including 'the power the Dark Lord knows not'.

"I believe that power is love, and know that suspicion has been confirmed by seeing the mark inside your mind, you are destined for a Soul Bond. To whom I haven't an inkling," he said half sarcastically, half mockingly his eyes twinkling maddeningly,"But this is my advice to you, spend the next few days reflecting, continue your physical training but our meetings will be postponed, I will key you into the wards and you will have full access to every room in the castle until I return in a few days, I want you to have whatever it is you need to find the answer. However I will implore you to remain out of the faculty offices, other than my own which I give you full permission to use, I'll have to leave now Harry like I said I have a commitment to keep but I trust you will have it all worked out by the time I return. Good luck Harry." he clapped the boy on the shoulder and then suddenly he was gone. There was a small flash of light coming from seemingly nowhere and then nothing. Harry left Dumbledore's office and began to wander about the castle aimlessly. He found his way to the owlery and decided that he would write Hermione, even if she happened to be the source of his confusion, her insight was always something he found helpful.

**_Dear Hermione,_**

**_How are you?! What have you been busying yourself with over the last few weeks? (besides the obvious) I have so much to tell you, you won't believe half of it but here it goes, hope your sitting! Well first things first, I'll no longer be staying with the Dursley's. Dumbledore and I finally had a talk and after I told him the full extent of their hospitality, we both agreed that it would no longer be best for me to stay there, so I get to stay with Snuffles instead. Hopefully that means we'll get to spend much more time together this holiday. Next, and here's the bombshell, Dumbledore has agreed to make me his apprentice in order to train me for facing Voldemort! I'd like to hear your reaction about this, what do you think, is it something you would be interested in? I could ask him if you could join me..._**

**_Well anyway onto the real reason I'm writing, as silly as it sounds, I'm having trouble with a girl... I know I have very, very strong feelings for her but I don't know if she returns them nor do I know how to find out if she does... I need your help 'Mione! Well, anyway I know I'll hear from you soon._**

**_Affectionately,_**

**_Harry_**

After reading and rereading his letter a few times he was satisfied with its content. He began to tie it to Hedwig, but with the content being a bit sensitive he decided against it. "Fawkes!" he shouted. Soon the bird flashed into existence in the owlery and he tied it to him instead, Hedwig looked rather annoyed but still allowed Harry to pet her and gave him an affectionate nip on the finger before he left the owlery for Gryffindor tower.

He was about half way to the tower when he decided to explore a bit, it wasn't every day that someone had access to the entire castle. He instead headed for Ravenclaw tower. When he reached the knocker the door instantly sprung open, he walked about in the common room, it almost seemed like a library, there were sofa's all over but there wasn't a single visible wall, instead they were all covered by bookshelves chocked full of the same books that could be found in the library, however nothing in the restricted section. "OH!" Harry thought before bolting for the library. "There's bound to be something incredible waiting in there!"

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Hermione woke late that morning to the sound of her parents talking in the parlor. The 3rd voice sounded rather familiar. She got up and dressed in proper clothes and walked down stairs to see Albus Dumbledore sitting on her couch having an quite animated conversation with her parents, at first she panicked thinking maybe she had done something wrong, but then calm suddenly wafted over her, it was quite a strange sensation but she welcomed it as opposed to the normal anxiety she normally felt in these sort of situations, normally her teachers had nothing but praise anyway, she couldn't even remember why she was worried to begin with.

Albus then put away his wand and went back to explaining to Hermione's parents the situation she was about to be involved in. After a few more hours they decided to allow Albus to take her with him back to Hogwarts.

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger, your decision will save hundreds of thousands of lives. Including your own. Thank you. I know it will be hard for you to give up the 3 months you have with your daughter, so I want to extend an invitation to you to spend the summer at Hogwarts with us. I do know that you have a dental practice and I'd be willing to pay another 2 or 3 dentists to mind the practice while you are away. Will you join us?

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Walking back from the library after his third day of having the castle to himself, Harry was practicing a new wand movement for a curse he had learned when Fawkes appeared on the head of a statue. He, of course had a note attached to his leg from the headmaster asking him to come to his office at his leisure.

A short walk later he appeared at the top of the spiral staircase to be greeted by a brown-haired missile. All his prior thoughts on Dumbledore's assignment came to a head and he was forced to confront his feelings for the girl wrapped in his embrace.

He was deeply and profoundly in love with his best friend.

"Hermione." was the only word that came from his mouth. He felt something break in him and he lost vision for moment. Almost like when one stands up too fast and their vision fades over and then they get light headed. Then everything was back to normal save the single tear that was lost in her hair almost instantly. He took a deep breath and the smell of vanilla and cinnamon teased his nose before she pulled away and pulled him over to where Albus was sitting. One could almost mistake the twinkle in his pulsing blue eyes for a tear.

"Professor Dumbledore was just filling me in one what we'll be doing for the remainder of the summer." Hermione began, talking a million miles an hour like she usually did when she was excited, and how could she not be? An apprenticeship with the most prestigious wizard since Merlin! Only this time, rather than being mildly annoyed and struggling to understand her gibberish, he became lost, staring at her lips, watching them move around sounds as they escaped her mouth. Her perfect smile every time she crossed a subject she was especially excited about it showed through her speech. And her eyes, Gods her eyes, so bright, so vibrant, so _alive. _They were by far and away the most beautiful things Harry James Potter had ever laid eyes on.

"Harry. Harry? Are you even listening to me?"

"Of course I am 'Mione, I just was lost in thought for a moment, I'm sorry." He said quickly snapping back to reality.

Albus could only look on brimming with happiness for the boy to have finally found what he needed more than anything else.

"So, did you think about your assignment Harry?"

"I did sir."

"Harry, I told you, its Albus when we are alone or with Ms. Granger. Now, did you come up with a solution?"

"Yes si- Albus." he said with a small smile.

As Hermione looked back and forth during the exchange, obviously a little irritated that she wasn't being included she looked and Harry again and gasped. "Harry! Your scar!"

It had a light glow on it that was growing, at first it almost seemed that it was sucking in light, creating darkness all around it but it gradually began to glow more and more brilliantly before it flashed brightly for an instant then went back to normal. Dumbledore jumped up in triumph but halfway through his rise contained himself and made it look like he was just heading for his pensieve "To document what I just saw." Of course.

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After about another hour of discussion between the three of them, Harry and Hermione departed for the dorms.

"So." Hermione said, sounding rather impatient.

"So." Harry said, sounding rather nervous.

"Are you going to tell me what Dumbledore assigned you that made your scar glow or am I going to have to try Ginny's infamous Bat Bogey hex?" She said looking at him menacingly.

"Well... I could... but..."

"Buuuut?"

"It's a bit embarrassing for me... it's very private and I'm not quite ready to share it with you..."

She blushed and apologized.

"Well I can tell you the assignment I guess, just not my solution... and once I explain it I'm sure you'll understand why."

She smiled at him and he went on to explain Dumbledore's theory of the Soul Bond and it effecting whatever curse-side-effect Tom inflicted on him as a baby.

"Oh I understand..." she said softly, almost sadly. "You've realized who..." she cut off at Harry's nod.

"I have, and if you give me a while to process it I'll be sure to tell you. I'm absolutely sure you'll approve of my choice... Well at least I hope you do..."

"Oh Harry, of course I'll approve! Whoever makes you happy!" She pulled him into one of her signature hugs and was pleasantly, albeit quietly surprised by him reaching for her hand as they made their way up the stairways to their tower.

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They sat together in the common room, talking about the small piece of summer they had missed in each others lives, then the conversation turned to a much more serious note.

"Harry, I'm proud of you."

"What?"

"We've both known since 1st year that you'd have to shoulder this burden, it's not something I wished on you but I'm really glad you're finally taking it seriously." Then in a mutter Hermione continued "And I'm glad you've included me..."

"How could I not 'Mione?"

She just chuckled.

"No seriously." she looked up at him and saw a completely serious and passionate face looking down at her. "How could I possibly do this without you!? You constantly sell yourself short and I wont have it anymore. You are, by far and away the most passionate, intelligent, loyal, trustworthy, beautiful, kind..." he trailed off. Somehow they had drifted closer in the last few seconds. He could feel her breath on his lips. He could smell that wonderful vanilla cinnamon of her hair again. They drifted slightly closer.

Their noses touched. Her eyes closed then his and he waited, his heart pounding in his ears, soon he felt her lips press gently against his. his top lip between hers. They held for a moment, then pulled away and kissed again this time her top lip was between his. Again, they held for a moment. When they pulled away they opened their eyes at the same time, Harry felt the nearly fainting sensation again but this time it was accompanied by tingling in his fingertips. She looked at him. Almost as if to question his motives before he leaned in again, this time not waiting for her to come the last few millimeters. When they broke this time their foreheads stayed together.

"Hermione." He said again, an echo of their first meeting earlier that day. His eyes still closed he could her her lips as she cracked a smile. He pulled her close and laid back on the huge soft red couch and kept her in his embrace until they both fell into a deep sleep both grinning like idiots and both happier then they had been in a long, long,_ long_ time.

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Harry woke with the scent of Hermione in his nose. She was still sleeping soundly on his chest. She even had a small smile still, hopefully because of him but in truth he wasn't sure. At least until she woke with a small groan and a stretch, showing off her tone midsection.

"I was just dreaming of you, and now I get to wake up next to you. On top of you even" She said with a wink, the only betrayal of her embarrassment at her innuendo was her cheeks turning a shade of red Harry thought only attainable by an angry Weasley.

"So I guess you'll want to know who I decided the Soul Bond was supposed to be with then?" Harry replied cheekily. In response Hermione punched him in his chest. He laughed it off after an exaggerated groan and decided to just go for it.

"'Mione, I love you."


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